Maya Vitkova

Maya Vitkova was born in Sofia. She graduated from the National Academy for Theater and Film Arts. Maya worked as an assistant director, casting director and executive producer for over twenty national and international productions, such as the BBC's "Eastern Delight" by Michael Palin (member of the legendary Monty Python comedy group), before becoming an independent filmmaker. In 2008 she executive produced Kamen Kalev's "Eastern Plays", which premiered at the Cannes Directors' Fortnight and was nominated for the Camera d'Or. "Eastern Plays" was among the 3 finalists for the LUX Prize, in the official EFA selection, and Bulgaria's foreign film Oscar nomination. Vitkova completed the Olswang Business of Film Producer's Workshop, a cooperation between the Olswang Business Law Firm and the National Film and Television School, London, in 2009. The same year she founded Viktoria Films, directing and producing two short films - "Stanka Goes Home" (2010) and "My Tired Father" (2011). Both shorts, written by the 2015 Silver Bear winner Radu Jude, were selected for more than 130 international film festivals. They won awards at Sarajevo, Huesca and Athens, among others, and were distributed by the KurzFilmAgentur Hamburg e.V., sold to the Eurochannel and the Turner Broadcast. Maya Vitkova's film project "Viktoria" was selected for the Script&Pitch Workshops, the Balkan Fund, the Berlinale Talent Project Market, the NIPKOW Programm, the EKRAN Programme of Andrzej Wajda's Master School of Film Directing, the Phare Workshop and others. "Viktoria" was presented at the work-in-progress section of the CineLink Co-production Market in Sarajevo a month after shooting. The film was co-produced by the Romanian production company Mandragora of Anca Puiu and Cristi Puiu. "Viktoria" was financially supported by the MEDIA Programme, Vienna Film Fund and the Bulgarian National Film Center. "Viktoria" was the first Bulgarian feature in competition at the Sundance Film Festival (nominated for the Grand Jury Prize) and International Film Festival Rotterdam (nominated for the Hivos Tiger Award) among others. "Viktoria" was screened at Karlovy Vary, Busan, Göteborg, Munich, Galway, Chicago, Seattle, BFI London and many more. The film had more than 70 international selections and was reviewed by the Hollywood Reporter, IndieWire, The New Yorker, Vogue Magazine, Screen International, Filmmaker Magazine, Twitch Magazine and more, making it to number 4 of the best films of 2016 according to The New Yorker, whilst Vitkova was pointed one of the five best directors in the world by the magazine. The time spent working on "Viktoria": "One of the great recent films by a woman about women, and it casts Vitkova to the forefront of contemporary filmmakers" (Richard Brody, The New Yorker), "Viktoria is absurd, often funny, surreal, and beautifully shot. Tonally, thematically, and stylistically it reminds me of Paolo Sorrentino's recent film Youth." (Julia Felsenthal, Vogue); "A striking first film about a young child without a belly button that explores the relationship of Bulgarians with their country, history and families."(Boyd van Hoeij, The Hollywood Reporter), also shaped Vitkova's production company. Maya is in development of her second feature film "Afrika". The project received development support by the MEDIA Programme and the Bulgarian National Film Center. "Afrika" won the Krzysztof Kieslowski Award for the Best Eastern European Script in Cannes, in May 2018. Vitkova was a "Producer on the Move" in Cannes (2014). She is an EAVE 2017 producer and took part in the Producer's Network in Cannes (2018).